For students with disabilities, life naturally goes on after school ends. To help facilitate that, their IEPs (individualized education programs) are required by federal law to include a coordinated set of activities, measurable post-secondary employment goals and annual updates based on age-appropriate
Read morePLEDGE-ECC celebrates new graduates, program’s alumni roster surpasses 100
Olivia Warren had never really considered becoming a teacher. A part-time job as an elementary school cafeteria/recess aide changed that. “I was interested in going into social work because I really like the mental health aspect,” Warren says. “Then, I started working
Read moreNew Teacher Send-off urges graduates to believe ‘that every student can learn’
For the NIU College of Education’s spring group of educator licensure graduates, part of their professional mission was made clear May 9 during the New Teacher Send-off. Rachael Mahmood, the 2024 Illinois Teacher of the Year and a 2016 alumna of the
Read moreGood dog! Visual Disabilities students visit The Seeing Eye, Inc. in New Jersey
Orientation and Mobility majors in NIU’s Visual Disabilities program traveled to Morristown, New Jersey, in April to visit The Seeing Eye, Inc. The philanthropic organization strives to enhance the independence, dignity and self-confidence of people who are blind or visually disabled. Its
Read moreA heart for students: Kim Suedbeck set to retire from instilling future teachers with compassion, grand expectations
Life has come full circle for Kim Suedbeck. “I started babysitting at a young age. I loved kids, and I always thought I was going to be a teacher – and I never changed my mind,” says Suedbeck, a clinical assistant professor
Read moreEarly Childhood Education majors visit Riverwoods Montessori school to see, experience a different way of teaching
Carolyn Kambich winds her way through a group of NIU College of Education visitors at Riverwoods Montessori Elementary School to announce that an impromptu piano performance is taking place just down the hall. Sure enough, a young girl – maybe in fourth-grade,
Read moreUpward: ‘Blindness Experience’ scores rave reviews, nearly doubles enrollment
When Stacy Kelly debuted SEVI 205/505: The Blindness Experience last spring, 80 students from throughout the NIU campus registered for the new general education course. And then they told their friends. Enrollment has nearly doubled to 150 this semester – and Kelly,
Read moreSweet! COE alumna Lisa Robinson wins Rockford-area 2025 Golden Apple award
Lisa Robinson, kindergarten teacher at Rolling Green Elementary School, has been a Golden Apple finalist before. And now Robinson, who earned a B.S.Ed. in Special Education: Deaf and Hard of Hearing in 2004, is a winner. “Being recognized as a Top 20
Read moreNIU awards Stacy Kelly for excellence in mentoring master’s, doctoral students
Not one moment of Stacy Kelly’s career has transpired outside the realm of visual disabilities. “I always knew, from an early age, that I wanted to be a teacher. I really like everything about school and learning,” says Kelly, professor in the
Read moreCongratulations!
Congratulations to these members of the NIU College of Education family! Five graduate students in the Department of Counseling and Higher Education’s M.S.Ed. in Counseling program were awarded the Jerry J. Murphy Master Scholarship, funded by the Aurora, Illinois-based INC Mental Health
Read moreCall him Kapp: Professor marks 50 years as NIU Visual Disabilities faculty legend
“Better luck next time,” the handwritten note on the letter read. “We’ve got him.” The him, in this case, is Gaylen Kapperman. The we’ve is NIU. And the recipient? Ohio State University. It stemmed from an innocent mix-up at the University of
Read moreNIU curricular innovation grants enable faculty to try new tech, teaching styles
In 2023, NIU’s Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning piloted a Curricular Innovation Grant Fund. Congruent “with university goals and priorities,” the program was “established to provide competitive grants for experimenting with innovative teaching methods such as transdisciplinary learning, virtual reality, digital
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